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Special Report
Egypt’s Hard Slog Toward Democracy
It lacks the needed capitalist underpinning, to say the least.
(Page 2 of 2)
One of the three — 24-year-old Ahmed Hassan — is a college graduate with a degree is in telecommunications. He seems to have little or nothing in the way of useful knowledge or marketable skills. Taking him at his word, the film-makers introduce this slow-witted youth as someone who is “angry after many years of suffering everyday humiliations at the hands of the state.” On Feb. 12 — the day after Mubarak stepped down — Ahmed enjoys a brief moment of fame at his local barber shop, lauded by friends as one of the heroes of Tahrir Square. He tells them: “Now, when an employer finds out that I was part of the revolution he will never treat me badly like before. Impossible!” Bitter and still unemployed several months later, he comes to the opposite conclusion — “Everyone is scared of (hiring) me because I was part of the revolution that toppled Mubarak.”
Then there is Gigi Ibrahim, also 24, dark-haired and strikingly pretty, the prototypical student activist and an avowed socialist. Gigi becomes a media star — one of the faces seen on the cover of Time and a spokesperson for the revolution that television stations in Cairo, London, and New York call upon for comment. But she, too, becomes disillusioned as the year wears on and women are no longer welcome on the square. Like Ahmed, she does not even bother to vote in the parliamentary elections that are held in November of 2011.
Gigi, the daughter of a rich industrialist, continues to think of herself as a revolutionary. In the words of the film, “Gigi wants to destroy the old system that made her father.” In the aftermath of the revolution, she goes into her father’s clothing factory to urge workers to demand higher wages and better working conditions. The long-suffering father tells the filmmakers: “Anyone who makes 1,000 now wants 5,000. It’s a disaster. She has turned my people against me. I think she’s a communist.”
Then she trains her sights on other employers. “Gigi and her comrades” — in the words of film — “turn their social networking skills” to the larger task of trying to incite workers across country to strike for higher wages and better benefits.
Having followed Ahmed and Gigi from the beginning of the revolution, the film-makers made the wise choice of including at one of the Islamists who were latecomers to Tahrir Square. So they added Tahir, 26, a Quran teacher and Salafist who had been imprisoned multiple times over the previous decade for religious activism.
Tahir made me think of what Mitt Romney must have looked like in his young missionary phase — ramrod straight, coat-and-tied, serious both about the message to be preached and getting ahead in his own life. That is not to suggest any connection between the two men apart from their physical appearance and bearing. Tahir, who lives in a five-story building filled with other member of his extended family, tools around Cairo on a Vespa.
Of the three revolutionaries, Tahir is the only one who thrives over the course of the next 12 months. He has a double celebration in November: Getting married on the same day that the Salafists emerge as big winners in the parliamentary election, coming in second behind the Brotherhood. Despite his own experience as a prison inmate, Tahir fully supports the Army in using tanks and armored vehicles to run over protesters in the run-up to that election. “I don’t agree with the protesters,” he says. He calls the riots “a conspiracy to subvert the election.” Chillingly, he also looks pleased in a Quran class when students aged 5 or 6 call for the killing of Coptic Christians.
In the midst of all this tumult, Egypt’s economy, unsurprisingly, has gone from bad (the condition for many years) to a whole lot worse. Tourism has collapsed. Unemployment has soared. Euphoria over the revolution has been replaced by worries over the lack of jobs and concern that the country may be unable to pull itself out of a deepening hole — regardless of all the social networking and texting over mobile phones that captured the attention of many reporters during the 18-day long revolution.
My wife and I returned in early February from a week-long trip in Upper Egypt — making a small contribution to the country’s depleted tourism industry. Though we were cocooned in the luxury of a guided tour, we still saw plenty of evidence of Egypt’s descent into economic and social chaos.
In striking against their nearly bankrupt government for more pay, lock workers at Esna succeeded in stopping most of tour boats that go back and forth between Luxor and the Aswan Dam. At the same time, we saw lighted and speeding trains that were empty of any passengers because the railroad workers had gone out on strike as well — leaving displaced passengers to queue on the road for buses to continue their journeys.
One of the biggest factors accounting for the lack of growth and jobs in Egypt is its bloated and fractious public sector. The government accounts for 35% of total employment in Egypt. In Turkey, it is 13% and in India, it is just 4%.
Too bad, then, none of the leading contenders for power in Egypt — whether in the Brotherhood, the military, or even in what remains of the student activists — seems to have any sense of the truth contained in F. A. Hayek’s dictum: “Only capitalism makes democracy possible.”
Egypt will never have a flourishing democracy without a more enterprising and productive economy.
It’s too bad that nobody seems be championing the cause of free enterprise and genuine capitalism (as opposed to the crony capitalism that flourished under Mubarak and previous governments). Nothing would be more effective in stimulating the growth that is so desperately needed — while finally allowing democracy to replace authoritarian rule.
About the Author
Andrew B. Wilson, a frequent contributor to The American Spectator, writes from St. Louis.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (37) | Leave a comment
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Brooksifier | 6.27.12 @ 6:42AM
Guys,
worry about Mexico's slog towards democracy, not Egypt's.
Democracy begins at home-- and Mexico is now practically home.
Skippy| 6.27.12 @ 1:57PM
Mexico is a racist shithole with no chance of doing anything besides sending 25% of their population north and then collapsing under the weight of narcoterrorism and corruption.
Mexico sucks in every conceivable way and should be walled off from the USA.
Truth to Power| 6.27.12 @ 1:58PM
Who knows, if we can encourage democratic values in Egypt and Mexico, maybe we could encourage those values in California, Illinois and New York. Maybe we are aiming high.
Von Mises Jr| 6.27.12 @ 7:04AM
Obama and Hillary are allegedly demanding that the Egyptian Military concede power to Morsi, the new Muslim Brotherhood President. Speaks volumes.
Ken (Old Texican)| 6.27.12 @ 7:20AM
Democracy, and freedom cannot co-exist with ingrained Sharia culture and law. It will never happen.
TLP| 6.27.12 @ 8:18AM
How about that Girl in the picture? Nice. Pretty. Let's face it. She's Hot!
I wonder if we'll ever see her Face, again. I mean, other than on the Cover of Newsweek, without her Nose.
I wonder if she's ready for her Virginity Exam, or if she knows 4 Men who will testify for her, at her Rape Trial?
"Be careful what you wish for" eh, beautiful?
Will the young men, beside her, ever look Human, again? Or, are they looking at spending the rest of their lives looking like they're Not quite as Evolved as the rest of us, and with that "I'm out of my mind, and if I could just get on a Passenger Plane full of Infidels with a Grenade up my @ss" look in their eyes?
"The Koran is our Guide, and Sharia is our way" (or some such sh*t) and why does all of this look so FAMILIAR?
I hear that there's a sh*t load of Job Openings at our Embassy, in Cairo. This could be your big chance, JACK.
If you're in Jordan, right now, what are you thinking? What about, Saudi Arabia? You have witnessed ABU HUSSAIN throw an Ally to the Wolves, and Attack Khaddafi, all in the name of Sharia, while doing NOTHING, in Syria. And HAMAS is telling you that Obama is the Deliveror.
Am I the only one CONNECTING THE DOTS?
Who Knows?| 6.27.12 @ 10:58AM
You're beyond beyond insane.
TLP| 6.27.12 @ 4:54PM
Instead of playing the part of a 2 year old.
Why don't you tell everyone what It is, that I wrote, that has you so apoplectic?
And have that Idiot - RCV, do the same.
We're waiting.
TLP| 6.27.12 @ 5:05PM
And, bye the way.
You're beyond beyond beyond stupid.
Who Knows?
Obviously, it's not you.
RCV| 6.27.12 @ 11:20AM
The Dots you're connecting, TLP, only exist in your mind.
TLP| 6.27.12 @ 5:02PM
Yeah. I'm crazy.
This is nothing like Jimmy Carter and the Shah.
There's no way Egypt becomes Iran #2.
History NEVER repeats itself.
Why, oh why, can't I write with the Eloquence of an obvious Dipshit, like you?
c. j. acworth| 6.27.12 @ 8:23AM
Exactly. Little Miss Gigi the fiery revolutionary will be among the first to be publicly stoned to death.
TLP| 6.27.12 @ 9:11AM
Ya hear that, Jack?
And, what did I tell you, yesterday, if you were to choose to go over there and live with your Kid Killing Buddies?
I said you could find employment as the Local Village ROCK COLLECTOR, when you weren't too busy checking Virginities.
Now, ackworth has just backed me up.
It appears that he's found you a Customer, already.
Virtue| 6.27.12 @ 7:31AM
Free enterprise is conditioned on individual liberty, property rights and the rule of law...and the Anglo-American experience has been the soil in which this ethos has developed over several centuries. Doesn't happen overnight, and an islamic culture is poison to the endeavor.
TinaB| 6.27.12 @ 10:42AM
Interesting that you should use soil in your analogy. Christ also talked about soil. In a ratio of three to one the seed, or ethos of Christ, had no root or did not grow. If that ratio refers to mankind, Only one-fourth of those who hear about Freedom, Truth and all things right, decent and may I add holy, actually hear, and believe and then live this ethos out.
Just a thought.
jaytrain| 6.27.12 @ 8:20AM
Only the children who write for the MSM would have missed this . Every revolution , save our own , was seized by the radical element and to the same end, a dictatorship of the best organized . Better said " One man . one vote , one time "
Quartermaster| 6.27.12 @ 8:40AM
Our system is the product of 2500 years of evolution starting with the Greek city states, going through Rome, picking up the idea of rule of law from the Roman Republic, through the Protestant reformation. That process yielded a Republic that was killed during Lincoln's Imperial war of 1860-65. Since then we have had crony capitalism shoved down our throats, along with a welfare state, FedGov tyranny, and scoff law Police and courts.
These poor kids thin they want what we have. But what they had under Nasser, Sadat and Mubarak did not differ much from what we have. We've simply had a chimera of Democracy, but none of the imagined benefits.
Like it or not, tyranny is the normal state of mankind.
TLP| 6.27.12 @ 5:09PM
Ya know, you're not gonna gain any converts, referring to The Civil War as Lincoln's Imperial War.
You might wanna check that Stupid Sh*t at the door?
Bill84728| 6.27.12 @ 9:02AM
What the dilletantes of democracy fail to understand is that democracy doesn't automatically liberty and equality are going to become the order of the day. Liberty and equality are qualities that people who take responsibility for themselves will fight for; the rest will opt for some authority taking care of them and telling them what to do. Egyptian democracy has yet to display anything other than what German democracy did back in the early 1930s, to wit: permit people to vote for a totalitarian system. In this case, it's true that the Muslim Brotherhood is still weak, but once they've been elected into office, is there anything in place to keep them from doing what the Bolsheviks and the Nazis did in their times?
John786| 6.27.12 @ 9:46AM
Yes we are all doomed in the end. But still fun trying. The Egyptians have lived under autocratic rule for best part of 10 thousand years. Makes American history quite puny. Give them a chance its only been a few days. And the are allowed to make mistakes. And yes we are all doomed in the end.
Ken (Old Texican)| 6.27.12 @ 10:26AM
786 Mhammed
Heh, I'm not doomed. I shall live my life here trying to follow Jesus, then I shall spend eternity with Him and His in fellowship, and perhaps even building houses for the Christians that come there after me.
I'm so sad you live in a religion of doom and death.
Ken (Old Texican)| 6.27.12 @ 10:29AM
PS; 786 Muhmmed...those 72 virgins will only be virgins once. Then they will hate you for eternity.
Have fun, idiot.
Bill84728| 6.27.12 @ 10:43AM
Well, those who feel somehow betrayed will hate you; the rest will hold you up to ridicule.
John786| 6.27.12 @ 2:39PM
Ken ( the rapturing Texan);
As colourful as the 72 virgins seem the true bliss of heaven is a vision of God. And endless peace free from any negativity or need. Salvation the ultimate success lies only and only, and only in the worship of the One God: the definition of Al Islam. Anyway Ken, kenny , ken I hope you have a long and heathylife and may God guide you towards THE truth and away from negative thoughts regarding the final message to Humanity from God. Them you may have that meeting with Prophet Isa ( pbuh).
John786| 6.27.12 @ 2:39PM
Ken ( the rapturing Texan);
As colourful as the 72 virgins seem the true bliss of heaven is a vision of God. And endless peace free from any negativity or need. Salvation the ultimate success lies only and only, and only in the worship of the One God: the definition of Al Islam. Anyway Ken, kenny , ken I hope you have a long and heathylife and may God guide you towards THE truth and away from negative thoughts regarding the final message to Humanity from God. Them you may have that meeting with Prophet Isa ( pbuh).
Who Knows?| 6.27.12 @ 11:19AM
Remember that famous leftist’s book, “All I Ever Needed To Know I Learned In Kindergarten”?
Too many people never made it that far in school!
All anyone will ever need to know, until their death---including newborns---about the group of humans occupying the land inside the boundaries of what’s named Egypt, is that they are ALREADY brainwashed by Islam.
If every American had to sit down, turn off all their social media devices, and with full attention, be informed about the genital mutilation of 90% of the women of that tribe, that has ALREADY been done, maybe we’d have less blather about inconsequential crap. With all due respect, but using the name of Hayek in the same sentence with Egypt is beyond beyond beyond beyond insane.
My guess is that more and more awakening Americans will use both fear and the desire for good company to avoid stepping foot in that hellhole, and outgrow their urge to see the pyramids.
Islamists have ALREADY chosen their future.
Try and stop them!
It’s actually quite enlightening, in that in 2012 and beyond, lucky Americans, ALONE---thanks Mark Steyn---get to live on a globe with parcels of it replicating earlier human times. The ultimate Reality Shows!
See Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, et al as they choose to experience their own Islamic version of the Christian Dark Ages.
Who needs to go the Disneyland?
Bill84728| 6.27.12 @ 11:49AM
If most people turned off their social media devices, they wouldn't be getting any information about Egypt or Islam.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 6.27.12 @ 1:10PM
All this democracy worship in the West has made the situation for Arab Christians in the Middle East from bad to worse. If I am a Coptic Christian in Egypt right now I would try to strike a deal with the Muslim Brotherhood where the brotherhood protects Christians from the Salafist/Wahhabists and the Christians vote for the Brotherhood in the next elections. That would probably be the best hope for the Coptics
TinaB| 6.27.12 @ 2:20PM
Dimitry, are you saying you believe the Muslim Brotherhood would protect the Coptic Christians and let you live in peace? Are you saying that you trust the MB? On what do you base this trust? I am asking this in an attempt to learn from you.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 6.27.12 @ 7:55PM
I don't trust the MB, but if the Coptic Christian's do not find a Muslim ally in Egypt then the Salafist/Wahhabist's will continue to murder Coptic Christians, kidnap Christian women and force them into marriages with Muslims and burn Coptic Churches to the ground. The secularists in Egypt are too weak to protect the Copts and the military killed nearly 30 Christians in Cairo when they protested against the Salafist violence against their community in the wake of Mubarak being forced out. It's not a good situation at all and the Copts make up less than 10% of the nation's population. If they were to arm themselves and put up a resistance the chances are they would still be driven out of areas that they've lived in for centuries. The only realistic approach is they need a strong Muslim protector. In Syria the Christians have the Baathist Alawite led government of Assad as a protector there is no such a person in Egypt right now so I think the Christian's best bet is to cut a deal with the Muslim Brotherhood to protect them from the Salafists if it is possible.
Ken (Old Texican)| 6.27.12 @ 3:52PM
Does anyone here know where Coptic Christians could go as refugees?
I don't and I am embarrased. They are already in the end times persecutions.
MUSLIMS WORSHIP SATAN AND DEATH. IT IS NO MORE COMPLICATED THAN THAT.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 6.27.12 @ 7:58PM
Possibly Ethiopia which is almost 50/50 Coptic Christian and Muslim. I disagree with you that Muslims worship Satan and Death. I believe Salafist/Wahhabist scumbags with Saudi Arabian oil sheik sponsors worship satan and death however most Muslims I know are honorable people who believe in and fear God and are very hospitable to travelers and raise their families in manners that Christians used to and should aspire to return to.
TLP| 6.27.12 @ 8:27PM
How about, here?
I, for one, would welcome them with open arms.
Y'all come down.
Ya hear.
Bill X| 6.27.12 @ 6:35PM
There will be no democracy in Egypt. Islamic fundamentalists are taking over. Most of the people want sharia law.
RJ| 6.27.12 @ 7:11PM
I often remember the words of an Iranian describing the 1979 Iranian Revolution as a mistake that they had to make, based on the hope that corrupt and brutal governments can be reformed by turning power over to "the holy men." For years, I have thought that Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern nations will follow the same path. How many decades will it take for them to find their way to a free and prosperous society? As with Iran, it will probably, at best, take several decades. In the meantime the rest of the world should fully develop their own energy resources and be careful of immigration from these troubled states so as not to expand the troubles of the Middle East into Europe (which already seems to be a problem) and North America. I would love to visit Egypt again. Unfortunately, it will probably be unwise for the remainder of my lifetime.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 6.27.12 @ 8:01PM
Interestingly enough the Islamic Republic of Iran allows its traditional Christian population (mostly Assyrians and Armenians) to practice their Christianity, keep their churches and even have their own schools. As opposed to Saudi Arabia where the religious police arrest Filipino migrant workers for celebrating mass in secret in a crowded apartment.
TinaB| 6.28.12 @ 4:58AM
Thank you, Dimitry. Very interesting. God bless you and your family.